Montreal mayor resigns over corruption probe

Montreal Major Michael Applebaum resigned on Tuesday after being arrested by Quebec’s anti-corruption police the previous day, raising fears of another prolonged corruption scandal after the city's last mayor also had to step down.

Montreal’s mayor resigned on Tuesday after he was arrested at his home in Quebec by anti-corruption police early on Monday morning.

UPAC spokeswoman Anne-Frédérick Laurence told the French language daily Le Devoir that the Mayor Michael Applebaum was taken from his home in the Notre-Dame-de-Grâce borough to a police station at 6:45am.

Former city councillor Saulie Zajdel, who hails from the same borough as the mayor, and Jean-Yves Bisson, Notre-Dame-de-Grâce 's former director of permits, were also arrested on Monday, the English-language Montreal Gazette reported.

UPAC’s Laurence did not give any more details about the arrests, adding that a press conference about the case would take place at 10am local time (1400 GMT)

Applebaum, 50, was appointed interim mayor of Quebec’s largest city last November after the resignation of former mayor Gérald Tremblay, who was linked to allegations of corruption.

Tremblay’s was one of several corruption scandals that have shaken Montreal for more than a year.